Old Believers - Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities.
Old Believers are principally oriented toward agriculture but are also
interested in marketable activities to earn money to buy materials,
needles, and other essentials, now including homes and automobiles. The
commercial activities vary widely from area to area. While living in
China, groups of Old Believers learned how to catch live tigers for
zoos. They also hunted deer and sold the horns to the Chinese. These
activities alternated with farming. In Oregon, the farms are devoted to
the Commercial growing of berries, fruits, and nuts. Individual farms
also keep beehives and cattle for their own use. During the off-season,
they form teams of workers to do preindustrial thinning in the woods.
Others take jobs in furniture factories, men serving as carpenters and
the women applying their sewing skills. When they found that factory
work paid well, they decided to keep their jobs while continuing to
operate their farms full time as well. In Alaska, Old Believers learned
the trades of fishing and boat building and in a few years began
building boats for themselves and others. Their off-time is spent in
maintenance of equipment, some farming, and hunting. Old Believers are
normally diligent and hard-working folk. All members of the family
assist in the domestic chores as well as gathering the harvest.

Industrial Arts.
Many people engage in part-time craft work, either sewing or carpentry,
as stated above.

Trade.
Old Believers prefer to be self-sufficient in terms of food products
and domestic items, but during scarcities, they buy fruits and
vegetables in stores. As the traditional ways give way to convenience,
more and more items are bought from stores, and they are not reluctant
to acquire technological items that make work lighter and more
efficient. The Communities in Oregon, Canada, and Alaska trade among
themselves, sending berries and nuts north to Alaska and fish and caviar
to Oregon. Also, the white honey produced in Canada is highly prized in
the other locations.

Division of Labor.
Labor is divided in accordance with traditional patriarchal family
rules, with domestic tasks done by women. They prepare all meals,
keeping track of the church calendar to ensure that fasting is observed.
They also produce, through skills in sewing and embroidery, much, if not
all, of the clothing for the family and decorations for the home. Girls
are encouraged to begin sewing and weaving while young, in order to
accumulate a trunkful of decorations and presents for their wedding
dowry. Older children look after the younger. Women also do many of the
chores on the farm like milking and feeding cattle. The men farm, build,
and work outside the home. Young boys usually accompany the older men to
learn what is to be done.

Land Tenure.
Each family strives to own its own home or farm. In several of the
remote settlements in China and Brazil, the land was free. On this land
they built their homes and considered it their own. Today, kin groups
often pool money to assist a family in purchasing a home or farm in
order to become self-sufficient.